A recent book by Thomas L. Martin and Duke Pesta, The Renaissance and the Postmodern: A Study in Comparative Critical Values represents something of a critical cat among the contemporary theoretical pigeons. Martin and Pesta, associate professors of English at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, respectively, set out to judge the … Continue reading “Why Literary Scholarship Matters”
A major in English was once a serious endeavor masquerading as a frivolous one. Despite the occasional “do you want fries with that?” condescension from business or science students, the study of literature—immersion in its aesthetic, historical, and philosophical contexts—conserved for posterity a reservoir of truth and paid forward for humanity a legacy of beauty … Continue reading “Three Ways Declining English Departments Can Be Relevant Again”
So you think you might like teaching college English. You love the language and its great works. Lots of people are like that, including me. Good, but beware. Teaching college English, especially freshman comp, is not for the faint-hearted. If you are drawn to the profession by the joys you experienced in grad school reading … Continue reading “Teaching Freshman English: It’s a Battlefield”
The English major has lost its way; here is a path back.
Some administrators evaluate pedagogy not on whether it works but on whether it has been done for the past fifty years.
Few undergraduates have read more than the topical “edgy” fiction sold by hucksters to middle and high schools.
The discipline of English is already in trouble, but there is more to come.